£1,800 universal credit for the unemployed AIBU ???

[rosekettie]

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of sympathy for people that has lost their jobs due to COVID-19. BUT.....just announced now...a family of 2 children out of work can now claim £1,800 worth of universal credit WHILE AS a registered nurse after paying all taxes, parking fee and pension comes home with £1,700 on a good month. That's with enhancements of weekend and night working. Even less so for HCA and other support staff. Maybe we should all go home and isolate..THOUGHTS,????

Not sure where the figure of £1800 came from. Do you have a source for the info?

The funding for employed people only applies to those working for smaller companies, those with fewer than 250 employees. It's a three month tide-over for the self-employed and will expire once the pandemic is under control. There's no intention to replace 80% of earnings if your taxable profit last year was over £50K: you should have saved money, but you can defer tax due in July to Jan 21. It's as close to a universal basic income as one can get, but it's more generous than I would have expected. And having levelled the support available, it appears likely to close the door on all the exemptions, which is important in developing a fair, modern tax regime.

It's the figure given by the chancellor earlier today in his speech

I think the problem is that you should be paid more not that people in need of universal credit should get less. That's my thought.

This is devastating for people. Maybe some people would prefer to be at work in a stable job for £1,700 than have £1,800 god knows when and not knowing your long term future. The people we should be begrudging are those who milk the housing system through lies and also the lazy a* on benefits. Come across a few in my time.

Ah I see thank you playthestation.

My job is helping people claim Universal Credit. I didn’t watch the speech but the figure of £1800 is the benefit cap I would imagine and the vast majority of claimants won’t get nearly that much and if they do the majority of it will be the housing element for rent.

I bregrudge fuck all to anyone atm

Hear fucking hear 🙏🙏

You still cannot claim if your savings exceed £16,000 can you?

If you have savings over 16k you can't claim at all and savings between 6k and 16k will reduce your award.

Cheers @Babyroobs

You also don’t get help to pay your mortgage from Universal Credit

@playthestation it’s not quite for 2 people they only have 1 rent, 1 lot of electricity etc.

why though isnt it highlighting the shit poor pay the uc gives out,or benefits in gneral.all those people up in arms saying the 251 wouldn't be enough to live off.not near enough.as in its nothing. so they changed it now.ok,but that is waht all those people on the normal uc have to live off!and they bloody struggle every sodding day.why havent anyone been up in arms for them.or the wait time they have had to go through which has now dissappeared for the 'new' unemployed.why is it ok for those others to live on fuck all but not these folk.

Have Any employers tried to register for the 80%. My husband is trying to do this for employees but doesn't look as if website is ready

@playthestation it’s not quite for 2 people they only have 1 rent, 1 lot of electricity etc.

It was the INCOME comparison, not the OUTGOINGS.

£1700 for ONE person

£1800 for TWO

OP nothing stopping you from claiming benefits but you will find you are still better off than most on benefits (the stigma attached is just not worth the hustle). To top this, you are looking after people when they need you. No amount of money can top that. You are more valuable than you realise, don’t ever forget that!

YABU if you think everyone on UC gets £1800 but I think any search for logic in the UK system will lead to frustration, OP. If UC gives someone enough to live on, why does a furloughed employee get up to 80% of circa£2500? Why does a self employed person potentially get a grant of up to 80% of the c£2500 even if they can and are still earning money through self-employment as well as employed income? Why have NHS employees had austerity pay cuts for c10 years and are relatively underpaid - Why is the market a suitable mechanism to establish pay for financial services but the state as monopsony buyer can underpay nurses, drs and other HCPs under austerity for ten years? Why does Schrodinger's magic money tree not exist until Banks needed it to magically appear in 2008 then QE can phenomenally enrich the already wealthy further. Or Mrs May needs it to pay a billion? to the Unionists? or companies say they need it again or they'll sack millions (Well done, Wetherspoons though unilaterally deciding to not pay your suppliers might be showing your true colours anyway). Bloody hell, I''ve hit a singularity of bitterness.

@kateandme give it a month and all the newly unemployed claimants will be complaining that UC is not enough to live on. The basic rate for a single person was roughly £73 a week and is rising to around £94 a week. Private renters may be in for a big shock when they realise only a portion of their rent will be paid through the housing element if their rent is higher than the Local Housing Allowance which covers the bottom 30% of rents in the area. Then of course there’s bedroom tax if you’re deemed to have a spare bedroom. If you share custody of your kids with an ex only the person who gets child benefit is entitled to a bedroom for them. There’s still a 5 week wait for the 1st payment. You can get an advance upfront but it’s a loan so you start off with debt.

The parking fee has now been stopped for the NHS workers hasn’t it? I signed a Change.org petition 2 days ago to get the parking fee stopped and then today I got an email to say they were successful.

I totally get what you mean though, it doesn’t seem fair at all, NHS should be getting most of the funds imo.

The government are lying about the UC increase anyway in two ways:

1. It is an increase from april 6th of £20 per week but as UC is paid in arrears, it's received from may. And 2) most people on universal credit will not see it at all, due to the benefits cap.

The government knows this so is being very disingenuous.

Sorry OP, none of what I’ve said about UC is aimed at you. You absolutely should be paid a better wage for the work you do, as should all low paid workers, but I sincerely doubt you’d be better off on UC.

@Agingdisgracefully I clicked on the link yesterday to see if I could start the process for our employees but couldn't see anything. I don't think you can do anything until April 1st but you can back date it. Wish I had left our payroll with our accountant now

1. Nurses should be paid more.

1. Most people won't make that much money. Those that will need to (e.g. very high cost of local living).

1. Demand-side economics suggests that much of this money will be pumped back into local economies, which will in turn keep people employed. (Cf. John Maynard Keynes) This is particularly important in a service economy like the UK.

1. I would generally like to avoid mass deprivation and even starvation in a time like this. £1800/month for a family of four in London doesn't sound like the high life to me.

1. Nurses should be paid more. (Bears repeating.)

Thats what an insured unemployed parent gets in Denmark before tax. Seems reasonable to me. I'd definitely get behind a campaign to pay UK public sectors more.

Yep @flirtygirl if someone claimed UC today their 1st payment wouldn’t be until 2nd May